It begans.... Truckers To Shut Down America
"a major shut down of America in a 3 day strike October 11th thru 13th."
apparently a 3 day convoy to DC.
Remember when this happened in other countries???
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/truckerstoshutdownamerica?ref=stream
This will spread. More and more "going dark" days will be called for.
Did anyone notice the "dark" web pages on 9-11?
A disturbance in the force, there is.......
= new reply since forum marked as read
*muslin*
I agree with you about the truckers not participating. Why would they? The protest doesn't help them or their families, and the fuel costs alone would eat into their pocketbook, let alone their livelihood.
If this is astroturfed, some who participate will not suffer much retaliation, if any. They'll probably pay some truckers to convoy - just like they've bussed people in for town hall meetings and various rallies.
Just from looking at their Facebook page, they sound like the House Republicans - who we know are pretty much bought and paid for by Big Corporate Money.
The Big Money leads an astroturf 'grassroot' convoy on FB, which plays in to the fears/desires of the right wing nut-jobs and racists - who then turn into followers of the Big Money astroturf 'grassroot' convoy.
Fox News will do it's part to play it up, and it will be used as justification for more House repeal attempts, and an iconic talking point for the 2014 election. Sick, isn't it?
(I have a strange desire to look up Kris Kristopherson. :sigh: ) 
I didn't notice anything going dark on 9/11. This seems like a RW strike kind of thing, if it even gets off the ground.
RW has so much money they can pay 20-30 truckers to carry banners to washingtondc, heck they should buy us all a pony with their PAC billions 
I don't know if they have the gumption to do this.
Go ahead, fools. The rest of us will appreciate any extra space on the interstates. No one else is going to notice.
This will spread from the kitchen to the buffet at the truck stop maybe!
Wonder of wonders...what WILL they think of next?
a camera in the sky...just imagine....
I used to drive 18-wheeler. I have experience with these trucker strikes. They are ALWAYS done by owner-operators, not by company drivers.
For those who are not aware of how trucking works, many trucks are owned by the driver, who leases his truck to a company. Since he owns the truck he has the expenses of running the truck, including maintenance and fuel. He is called an Owner/Operator. He gets paid a set rate that he negotiates with the company he leases to for each mile driven under load, and nothing for empty miles driven. Many O/Os don't know how to manage their expenses and from time to time pitch a fit, call for a general trucking strike, and nothing happens. That is because O/O, who were once the overwhelming majority of truckers are now in the minority. Most truckers are now company drivers who get paid a flat rate for each ordered mile driven. The company bears all the expense of fuel and repairs. I was a company driver as I didn't want the headaches of owning a truck.
Take a look at the truck in the link. That driver is an Owner/Operator, and is massively ignorant. Look at his truck. It is a macho "he-man" type. His biggest expense is fuel, and his biggest use of fuel is in pushing air out of the way as he goes down the road. That idiot has a square radiator, large fenders, front bumper looks like a bulldozer blade, air cleaners hanging from the hood, dual exhaust pipe hanging in the wind, flat rear-view mirrors, and the sleeper isn't streamlined either. He is throwing away tons of money on air resistance so he can look tough.
BTW - That bumper is steel, and that is extra weight he is hauling that he isn't getting paid for. The weight could go for more freight.
Here is a better picture of that type of truck:
Now look at the lines on this truck:
You won't see many company trucks looking like the top one. Mostly companies buy the efficient trucks, and don't waste money creating air turbulence, or dragging around extra weight. The bumper is fiberglass.
These strikes have been happening ever since freight rates were deregulated under Jimmy Carter with the Motor Carrier Regulatory Reform and Modernization Act of 1980. Before then, the Feds set the freight rates, and the rates were so high that a truck could deliver a load from one coast to the other and drive back empty and still make a profit. Everybody was required to charge the same amount. Then deregulation and the truckers had to compete with each other.
At about the same time, the Interstates killed the trucker unions. Before the Interstates most drivers drove the same route, over and over. The Interstates made it irregular routes driving economically possible. That means each load can go somewhere different. So you pick up a load for Chicago, then the next load goes to New Orleans, then to Seattle, then Miami, then Houston, then Dallas, then Los Angeles, then...you get the idea. The driver may not see his home terminal for months, although the company will try to route him by his personal home once a month for about four days home time. That means the drivers working for a company can live just about anywhere in the U.S. That makes trying to organize a union almost impossible. There are no union OTR (Over-the-Road, also called Long Haul) companies. The only union companies are Yellow and ABF who are both LTL (Less-than_Load) companies. Their drivers cover the same routes, over and back.
I have seen these so-called strikes before. There is no leadership to do the negotiating, nor is there anybody to negotiate with. This is purely an O/O effort and will be ignored by company drivers.
loads of perspective for folks like me who have no idea of the ins and outs of trucking.
Thank you so much!!
You don't mention how long ago it was that you drove nor for how long, but I drove my first tractor trailer in 1978 and started OTR in 1987 and it has NEVER been the case in all those years that OO's outnumbered company trucks, nor has it historically been the case.
And the statement "the Interstates killed the trucker unions" is absurd. The advent of the limited access superhighway had nothing to do with declining union membership.
There is also this;
"Take a look at the truck in the link. That driver is an Owner/Operator, and is massively ignorant. Look at his truck. It is a macho "he-man" type" No, YOU take another look at it. It is a picture CLEARLY taken from a damned video game! It's a fucking cartoon!
That does not reduce the fact that the owner of that Facebook page is a nitwit, but I digress.
There are plenty of other inaccuracies or exaggerations in your post that I won't bother with, but suffice to say, you are wrong on the owner operator information.
Bake
